


The Curse of (a Redheads) Summer Vacation

by stelliums



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: AkuRoku Week (Kingdom Hearts), Alternate Universe, Domestic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25789675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stelliums/pseuds/stelliums
Summary: akuroku week #3 - 'sea salt'axel suffers sunburn after vacation.
Relationships: Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7
Collections: Akuroku Week 2020





	The Curse of (a Redheads) Summer Vacation

“Worst. Vacation. Ever!”

A suitcase rolled across the tiles of the kitchen floor, stopped only by the counter. The resulting crash spooked one of their cats, Pumpkin, who darted cross the room in a streak of black, orange and white. She hid underneath the kitchen table before cautiously stalking over to the sofa to curl up in her favourite corner. Axel followed her and sat on the sofa himself with no attention paid to the fact that he had thrown his belongings to the other side of the kitchen. Roxas, on the other hand, went to retrieve it. The suitcase was dented now; he only hoped for his own sanity that nothing inside shared its fate.

“It’s just sunburn. Come on, stop being such a baby about it!” Roxas crossed his arms in front of him with a roll of his eyes. Unlike his partner, Roxas was naturally tan and the sun was kind to him when he chose to sunbathe. He scratched Pumpkin behind her torn ears. The cat purred in appreciation. “It’s your fault, anyway. You’re a redhead – how did you think that staying in the pool all day would help?!”

Axel shrugged, then flinched. Roxas sighed. He had refused to let him see where, or how badly, he had been sunburned, like a kid. He was glad that they had waited until the last couple of days to go to the beach. Despite how much Axel complained, and had been complaining since it had happened, it would have been worse if they hadn’t stayed in the resort for most of their vacation.

“Ugh... I want an ice bath... Can you fill the bath with ice for me?” He groaned. One arm draped lazily from the sofa. His fingers grazed the carpet below. Axel reached out to him, slow as though it caused him much effort to do so. “Feel how hot it is– I’m burning up here–“

Roxas felt his forehead. “You don’t have a fever.” He pointed out. The optimism in his voice caused his boyfriend to grasp at his wrist and place it against his shoulder-blade. As he had said himself, his skin felt as though it was burning even under his shirt. “Hm... the internet said not to apply ice to it... you’re more likely to get hypothermia than cure sunburn if you sit in a tub full of it. I’ll have to go out to get some aloe vera...”

“How dare you leave me alone in my time of need!” Axel posed on the sofa, imitating the painting of a fainted maiden they had seen at one of the art galleries they had visited. Neither of them had an eye for art but it had been amusing to imitate the poses in the artwork, to the chagrin of many an onlooker. 

But he avoided grabbing Roxas’s arm, or any actions that would prevent Roxas from leaving. Roxas leaned over to press a sweet kiss to his forehead. “I won’t let you suffer for long. Don’t do anything stupid until I get back!” He called as he left Axel alone on the sofa, still in the same, over-dramatic pose. Roxas repeated the list of items he needed to acquire on his way to the cluster of local stores close to their home.

Taking a nap in the odd position that he had been in had appeared to be a good idea until Axel woke up. In addition to the sizzling heat that radiated from his sunburnt skin, his neck now ached from the way that it had rested against the arm of the sofa. Irritable, he attempted to ignore both sources of pain and discomfort and rolled over onto his side. Pumpkin watched him, uncaring, from the top of the sofa.

Something cold pressed against his back. However pleasurable it felt against his warm body, Axel still froze and reached out, eyes still squeezed shut, to take the box of ice creams away. Roxas’s grinning face was the first sight he saw when he finally chose to open his eyes. He hadn’t mentioned ice creams when Roxas had mentioned leaving, though he wished he had once he had left. Rather than devouring the sweet treat there and then, he was tempted to tape the box to his back while it still offered him some relief.

“I thought you could use something cool. Don’t just hold it, though, it’ll melt before you can eat it!” Roxas took the box from him and unwrapped an ice cream. Sea salt, the best flavour ice cream could offer. While holding the ice cream in his mouth, he unwrapped another to hand to Axel.

Axel bit into his ice cream. His eyes closed again as he savoured the taste. It was a refuge from the heat that tormented the rest of his body, and not in the way that Axel often meant it. “What, because I’m so hot?” He joked, adding a wink for emphasis. Roxas’s expression appeared to relax upon hearing Axel say anything that wasn’t a melodramatic complaint. “Come here, you look freezing!”

He took the opportunity to trace a finger along Roxas’s lips once he had sat down, tinged blue by the dye in the ice cream. It was Roxas that pulled him closer to kiss him, close enough that there was no space left between them. Roxas’s hand pulled up the fabric of his loose t-shirt and Axel couldn’t help but wince at the sensation of his fingers, however delicate they were, touching the burned skin. His hands were cool, so oddly so that he thought that Roxas had dropped his ice cream.

Roxas broke the kiss to murmur, inches from his lips, “That wasn’t so bad, hm? It’s just aloe vera, I don’t think I’d be able to get it on you otherwise.” A sly smile appeared on his lips.

“Was that just to sweeten me up, then?” He held up the half-eaten ice cream in his hand, although that wasn’t the only sweet thing he had been referring to. Axel crossed his arms and sat up, feigning disappointment at his partner’s supposed deceit. “If you just wanted to get that gel on me, you could’ve just said you were going to massage me with it. Some boyfriend you are.”

Refusing to comment on Axel’s antics, Roxas reached into a bag and took out a green bottle of aloe vera. “Fine. Take off your shirt.” Roxas instructed bluntly. Axel did as he was told; his back was a startling shade of red even a few days after it had initially gotten burned. It crept up over his shoulders to a point just under his collarbone, likely from days when he had been wearing a shirt despite the sweltering weather.

His hands slowly worked down his back to massage out knots while still covering the afflicted skin with the gel. The cooling aspect of the aloe vera helped to numb the prickling, painful heat of the sunburn, if only for a short while. “That feels good...” He breathed out. It was difficult to focus on finishing off his quickly-melting ice cream when Roxas used his magic hands on him. “–Hey, not too hard there, it still hurts!”

Pumpkin sniffed the air and meowed from nearby, appearing to wrinkle her nose. “Yeah, I know, kitty... And that’s your fault for getting sunburned and asking for a massage.” Roxas countered, although he didn’t fail to listen to his complaint.

“That’s better... that’s better...” Axel’s head found a pillow as he allowed his eyes to flicker shut to center his attention onto the gentle, loving motions of Roxas’s hands. The pain that his touch had elicited before only left a faint, dull ache once enough aloe vera had been applied. It did nothing to prevent even the feeling of Roxas’s massage getting swept away by the tide of sleep. Upon realising Axel was unresponsive, Roxas pulled a thin blanket over him and kissed his forehead, then started to pull the dented suitcase out of the kitchen.


End file.
